


Honesty Hour

by OnlyInAutumn



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Snarky Seth, complicated relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 12:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7891810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyInAutumn/pseuds/OnlyInAutumn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seth loses his cool when a guy is hitting on Kate at a bar he dragged her to. In between Season 1 and Season 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honesty Hour

**Author's Note:**

> Just a brief glimpse into their time together and something that I think would have easily had happened.

She had been left alone to her own devices for no more than several minutes while Seth hit the bathroom. In that time, she had become increasingly aware of a guy’s eyes on her from across the bar, him stealthily making his way over. Kate contemplated bolting to go find Seth, but in the end, stayed put so he would know exactly where to find her. Neither of them having a cellphone really inhibited them from wandering.

“Hey there, gorgeous.”

Kate’s eyes were filled with daggers when she looked over to see the seat next to her—Seth’s seat—taken by the stranger. His ash blonde hair was covering his forehead, swept to the side in waves of curls, and dark eyes that looked like they were up to no good.

Kate stiffened up and messed with the small straw floating around in her water. “Hi.”

The less words the better, she figured. He would lose interest fast.

“I’ve been watching you for a while. You’re stunning.”

He had been watching? Creepy.

“Well,” Kate started, ready to burst his bubble, “if you’ve been watching then you would know I’m here with someone.”

The guy smiled, surprisingly. “You don’t seem that into him. Plus, you look too young to be his.”

“What do you know?” she spat back. Lying seemed like the best option. “I look young for my age, it’s called face cream and no sun. And the guy I am with _is_ my boyfriend so you should get out of here before he returns. You’ll regret it otherwise.”

“Boyfriend, huh?”

_Keep it simple, Kate._

“That’s right. Two years and three months. We’re very happy.” The longer she said, the more legit it would sound, and despite knowing Seth for only a few months, it felt like she had known him for years anyways.

“Well, then, where did the happy couple meet?”

He was testing her to see if she was going to slip up. The thing was, she had gotten really good at lying so it wouldn’t be any trouble at all. But, staying as close to the truth as possible was always a better option.

“At a hotel in Texas. We were both headed to Mexico for vacation. We met and talked and we never split ways. The rest is history.”

“You could make him history and come home with me instead.”

His fingers ran down the length of her arm, giving her a chill in the worst way possible. She jerked back, hand gripping the glass of water as she readied to drench him with it, when Seth reappeared. “Hey!” the booming voice from behind them. Suddenly, the guy next to her was gone, snatched right out of the bar stool, landing on his feet in front of Seth. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The guy must have been in total shock because he just stood there with his mouth hanging open, stunned that what Kate said about him regretting not leaving was actually becoming a reality.

Seth was in awe when he got no response, which actually only further angered him, his previous three drinks probably also playing a part in his outrage. “What? No answer? You think I’m standing here talking to the fucking plant behind the bar?”

 “I-I-I was just—”

“Leaving?” Kate offered to the unfinished phrase, holding back a laugh.

Seth was, however, very serious, eyes wild with irritation. “Listen to me.” He placed two fingers on the man’s chest, getting all up and personal. “You touch her or even look at her one more time, I’ll break off every one of your fingers and shove them so far up your ass you won’t know what hit you. And if I break off all your fingers how will you ever remember how to count up to ten, huh?”

Seth always had a knack for being demeaning to people right in front of their faces if he didn’t like them. He was gifted in that way, fast on his feet to respond in witty ways.

The man’s eyes flickered between Seth and Kate, which only annoyed Seth further. Kate was beginning to be afraid he might actually start a fight right then and there without warning.

“Don’t even look at her!” he cocked his head to the side arrogantly. “Comprende?”

The man put up his hands, mouth kept shut. Seth shoved him backwards with one hand the man stumbled into some wooden chairs before continuing to walk backwards until he was out of sight. Giving up was easier than being beaten to a pulp. It was a good choice on his part.

Seth straighten out his jacket, escorted Kate back over to the bar, and sat down next to her in their original seats. He reached for a shot glass and turned to her before downing the liquid. “He won’t mess with you again.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, hand running through her hair, scanning the area to make sure everyone had gone back to their own conversations. “Can we go now? I think I’ve had enough for tonight.”

All she wanted was to get the hell out of there and nothing more.

Seth was about to protest until he saw the look on Kate’s face, silently pleading with him to leave. He caved, groaning, and nodded towards the exit. Once outside, Kate pulled her jacket closer to her body. Seth was walking a few steps ahead of her, his jacket blowing in the wind.

Kate looked in the distance, and despite there not being a lot of light from any source, she could see the storm brewing ahead.

“I shouldn’t bring you to bars anymore,” Seth commented, shaking his head, still hung up on the previous encounter. “You’re too pretty. It drawls too much attention.”

Interesting. He thought she was pretty.

_No,_ she chastised herself. That shouldn’t matter.

But to a secret part of her it did.

“Believe me, I don’t like it either, but it’s better than dumping me in a motel room somewhere and going off by yourself.”

 It was true, she would much rather be in his company at a bar than alone at a motel. Too much time meant too much to worry about.

“What, afraid I’ll leave you there?”

He was being sarcastic when he said it, but Kate turned the other way so he couldn’t see her face change to fear.

They had reached the car and they both slid into their seats. “Yes,” she finally answered, buckling her seatbelt. “I am.” Seth rubbed at his neck, a nervous habit. Kate uncomfortably shifted around in the sports car, never quite able to get settled. “Just sometimes.”

“Kate,” Seth started to say, then abruptly stopped when he noticed she was staring out the side window. He repeated her name and gripped her shoulder so the sudden physical contact would make her turn around a make eye contact. “Listen, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going to run off and leave you behind. I dragged you into all this and I’ll make sure you’re okay. Understood?”

She remained quiet but nodded her head in response. Seth was satisfied enough with that and turned the key to the ignition.

—

That night she was all sprawled out in her bed—the one always furthest from the door—and her mind would not shut off. Seth, on the other hand, was snoring lightly next to her in the other bed, sound asleep.

Make no mistake, Kate was exhausted. Yet, no amount of telling herself to fall asleep was going to work. She peeked over the bed at the neon alarm clock lights, alerting her to the early morning hours. Out of annoyance, her hand smacked down onto the pillow next to. She didn’t mean to wake up Seth but he was a surprisingly light sleeper and awoke to the littlest of sounds.

“Everything okay?” he asked, groggy voice, and one eye open her way.

“Can’t sleep.” She turned onto her side so she could see him better, the cheap sheets sounding loud as she moved.  “Sorry for waking you up.”

“I wasn’t sleeping,” he tried to tell her so she wouldn’t feel bad.

Kate giggled. “Yes you were.”

“Okay, maybe I was. You did me a favor though. I was dreaming about those damn bloodsuckers.”

“Again?” she questioned grimly.

The both of them had nightmares about those things, about what happened back at the Twister. Every time Kate closed her eyes she felt the slight panic that a dream of monsters was right around the corner. Luckily, they seemed to be appearing less and less in her dreams. Seth, on the other hand, was still dealing with it most nights.

“Yeah _, again_. Maybe I should try electroshock therapy for my brain so I can forget that shit ever happened.”

Kate smiled against the sheets, which she had raised up to her chin. “Let me know if that works out for you.”

Seth chuckled. “Will do.”

They were silent for a few minutes, listening to the patter of the rain pelting the motel windows, the remnants of a hurricane blowing across Mexico from the Gulf sending down buckets of sideways rain and string wind into the area.

She was just glad nothing was leaking from the ceiling, given they were on the second floor. The place they were at didn’t seem like any maintenance had happened in the past decade.

The rain brought on different issues however. Kate didn’t quite know why, but the storm made her feel lonely. Maybe because she knew there was no one to talk to like she did back home. During storms her friends and her would use it as an excuse to stay up late and start a group chat until they all fell asleep. Now Kate had no friends or family.

Just Seth.

“What are thinking about so intensely over there?”

She hadn’t even realized he had been staring at her. Kate fluffed her pillow and laid her head back down softly, telling herself to not start with the tears. No need to freak Seth out. “It’s nothing,” she lied.

He knew it wasn’t the truth. “You’re sad.”

“Maybe.”

“You want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not at two in the morning.”

“Two in the morning is when people are most honest.”

Kate narrowed her eyes. “And why is that?”

Seth shifted onto his back to stare at the ceiling, sheets lowering on his chest. Kate took only a moment to adjust her gaze to his shirtless (and impressive) upper half before focusing again when he spoke. “Two in the morning is last call.” She saw the hint of a smile. Kate wondered how many times Seth had been stumbling out of a bar at last call. “People are honest after downing a gallon of alcohol.”

“Ahh, I see,” she sighed. “So there’s a two a.m. honesty policy?”

“That’s right. So spill the beans, princess, what’s upsetting you?”

Kate was hesitant. It wasn’t normal for Seth to genuinely ask about her feelings and expect an answer that wasn’t something along the lines of _it’s nothing_ like her previous reply.

“Come on,” Seth encouraged, “you can tell me.”

It wasn’t _that_ easy, but Seth made it seem enough so that Kate would talk.  “Sometimes I just feel like everything is coming down on me at once and I remember that I’m pretty much alone in the world now. That’s all.” Kate shifted so that her knees were brought in closer to her chest as a form of comfort. “Loneliness is never easy.”

He flashed her this look of something that was hard to place until she understood it as guilt. He was part of the reason she was lonely and they both knew it.

“Get over here.”

She smiled into the sheets. “Really?”

“Now, before I change my mind.”

Kate threw the covers off and braved the chilled floor with bare feet only for two steps until she leaped onto Seth’s bed. He complained when she climbed over him and flopped down, pulling over the covers. That side of the bed was colder than the spot she had originally been in, yet being closer to Seth made her feel safer so she’d endure the chill until her body warmth formed a cocoon with the sheets.

“Better?” asked Seth.

“For now.”

It was part of their routine, really. Falling asleep next to each other. They had both grown accustomed to the security of the other next to them.

“Don’t you think the police will catch up to you at some point?” It was a question that had been nagging at her for some time, mostly stemming out of her own fear that once again she would be all alone.

Kate,” he warned like he usually did if she brought a similar topic. Seth met her eyes. “Everything will be fine.”

She waited a few beats to pass before she replied, “Will it?”

“ _Yes_.”

She nodded, dropping the question. “Okay.”

“Relax, I’ve got it all taken care of. End of story.”

She wondered if he was trying to convince her or himself of that. Still, she repeated quietly, “Okay.”

Abruptly, Seth diverted the conversation to a more serious one. “I’m sorry about what happened back there. Your dad and brother.” He shook his head. “They didn’t deserve it.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, reaching out to touch his arm as a warm gesture. “I’m sorry about Richie.”

To her surprise, Seth took her hand in his, laying it flat on his chest covered by the sheet, and placed his hand so that it covered hers loosely. Kate inched closer until she was resting her head on his chest as well.

“Maybe I’m better off without him,” he replied in a sad tone.

Kate was going to opt to say silent, but Seth needed to hear was she had to say. “I think you are better off. When you too were together, from what I saw, you fought and got angry at each other. You were suspicious of his every move. And in the end he chose to stay with _her_ …and…”

Seth had reached around to her back, slowly drawing shapes against her camisole. “And I went with you.”

“You chose a different path, parted ways, and maybe that’s just okay. Maybe it was time.”

Seth poked her in the ribs. “You should be a therapist.”

She laughed. “I think I’ve got enough of my own problems.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ve got way more than you though so be grateful for that.”

Kate let out a sigh. “Wow.”

“What?”

“You were right. I guess two a.m. really is honesty hour.”

Kate moved her head so that she was looking up at Seth. They had never been in such an intimate position before, them all cuddled together, and yet she found it to feel so natural. He moved her hair over her shoulder, thumb stroking her cheek. “You know, Kate, sometimes I wonder…”

He trailed off, sentence left open to the imagination—and boy, did Kate’s imagination run with it. Thousands of possibilities entered her head, only a few viable. And the few that were likely left Kate in a state of panic. She was suddenly so self-conscious until he removed the hand and tucked it under the sheet at his other side. Kate pondered if he wasn’t sure what he would do if it had been left on her.

“Nevermind,” he finished, clearing his throat. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Seth closed his eyes, hoping she would too. Eventually, they both drifted off, Kate remaining comfortable on his chest as his breaths lulled her to sleep.


End file.
